


Sleep Deprivation Does Awful Things

by Isolus_girl



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Sleep Deprivation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25867468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isolus_girl/pseuds/Isolus_girl
Summary: Rose and Jack are sick of the Doctor waking them up. They decide to do something about it.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Sleep Deprivation Does Awful Things

**Author's Note:**

> Crackfic if you squint. No plot, just a bit of fun (although I'm assured sleep is a very serious plot).

Rose Tyler was not impressed. She was a human being and therefore needed at least a full eight hours to be vaguely functional, whatever impatient Time Lords seemed to think. 

Feeling more than disgruntled, she pulled on a dressing gown and slippers and dragged herself through to the kitchen – caffeine the only thing on her mind right now. When she arrived at the kitchen, she took in the sight of a sleepy Captain nursing a cup of coffee. 

“Morning has broken?” she queried as she walked over to the kettle. 

“Unfortunately, yeah. There’s tea in the pot – figured it wouldn’t be long before you were in here too.”

Flashing a grateful smile at him, she poured herself a large mug (dash of milk, no sugar) and sat down across from him. The two of them sat in silence for a while, both filled with drowsy recollections of their rude awakening. A lively Time Lord walking up and down the corridors singing ‘Morning Has Broken’ was not the way either of them wanted to wake up. Yesterday it had been TARDIS mechanics that ‘just happened’ to create a large bang. Outside their respective doors. Now he was conveniently staying away until they had both had time to have caffeine. 

“This wasn’t quite what I pictured when I signed up to travelling with you guys,” Jack murmured into his strong coffee. 

“We cannot carry on like this. We need a plan.” Rose decided after a moment. Jack just nodded. 

By the time they had finished their respective drinks a plan had formed. 

“So we stay strong and together on this one?” Jack checked. 

“Strong and together.” Rose agreed. 

\---

When a certain, unpopular Time Lord came into the kitchen he found two, very drowsy companions, nursing their chosen form of caffeine as though it was a lifeline. 

“Jack, Rose, you’re both awake already!” he did a good impression of being surprised, but there was no hiding his delight. 

He looked so genuinely pleased, Rose almost felt sorry for what was coming next. Or she might have done had he not woken her up that morning! 

“Barely,” Jack grumbled back at him, stifling a yawn. 

“I thought we could go to Felspoon today -” he began enthusiastically, but was silenced by a look from Rose. 

“Doctor I’m sorry, I’m not feeling great this morning. Must be all these early starts. I don’t think I can run for my life this morning, I’d only hold you back. You have fun though.” 

“Rooose,” the Doctor pouted, “you know I can’t explore without you! It’s safe, I’ve done all the checks and everything.”

“I’ve heard that one before Doctor, sorry. I think I’m going to go to bed for a bit, catch up on some much needed sleep.”

As Rose exited the room, Jack had to hide a smirk in his coffee mug, Rose really had played her part to perfection. Now it was his turn. 

Dramatically stifling another yawn, he turned to the Doctor, “Come on Doc, I’ll help you with some TARDIS repairs.” Then he glanced down at himself, “erm, just let me get changed first.” 

“It’s Doctor, not Doc.” He heard the Doctor sigh as he left the room. Unsurprisingly he found Rose waiting for him in his room and bit back a joke about her waiting for him in other ways, as she asked, “All go okay?”

“As we planned. I left him grumbling about how I called him Doc.”

\---

The next stage was simple. Rose genuinely did go for a nap, but not before setting her alarm for an hour’s time. Jack, true to his word, got changed and went back into the console room. Pausing to stretch and yawn in the doorway. 

“What are we doing today then Doc?”

“It’s Doctor, not Doc and we need to recalibrate the Dynamorphic generator, but first some of the wires for the materialisation controls are degrading. We need to replace them with new ones to maintain accuracy for our destinations.” 

“Maintain accuracy?” Jack spluttered incredulously, still remembering Rose’s tale about missing a year the first time she went home. 

“Yes.” The Doctor gave a stern look that silenced him. “Are you going to help or not? The wires are over there and you want that panel of grating.”

“Yes sir,” Jack quipped, but moved to do it anyway. As he lifted the grating panel he gave another dramatic yawn, and another when he was removing the old wires. 

“Do you mind not yawning when you’re fixing my TARDIS. You’re not giving me faith in your concentration levels.”

“Sorry Doc, I had an early wakeup call this morning, something that sounded strangely like cats fighting. You don’t have cats on your ship do you?”

The Doctor just gave him a glare dripping with distain, not even bothering to correct the use of his least favourite nickname. 

True to their agreed timing, Rose arrived in the console an hour later. She couldn’t have sported more of an ‘I just woke up’ look if a makeup artist had produced it. Just like Jack, she let out a giant yawn upon entering, but the Doctor only looked fondly upon her. For a reason only known to Jack, she was carrying a blanket, like a sleepy child dragging a teddy bear. 

“Thought I’d make sure my two boys weren’t starting World War Three in here.” Rose joked and curled up on the Captain’s Chair in a way Jack hadn’t even realised was possible. It then became apparent what the blanket was for. 

“Don’t mind me getting comfortable, ‘m still sleepy. What are you working on?” 

Her eyes drooped as the Doctor explained, although she made what appeared to be a valiant effort to keep them open. The Doctor gave up on explaining and just smiled fondly at her. Before long the console room was filled with gentle snores which even Jack couldn’t tell whether they were real or not. 

Both Jack and the Doctor worked in silence then, punctuated only by Jack’s dramatic yawns. Neither of them wanted to disturb Rose, although Jack still couldn’t decide if she was actually sleeping. 

After a particularly dramatic yawn, even by Jack’s standards, he swore loudly. Rose jerked awake and sat upright and the Doctor bashed his head on the grating he was underneath. 

“Do I even want to know what you’ve done?” he asked, irritably. 

“I cut the wrong wire, sorry Doc, maybe you’re right. Maybe I am too tired for this. I’ll go and take a nap and come back and fix it.” 

Rose walked with him on the pretence of going back to bed if she was falling asleep in the chair. The Doctor just stared after them thoughtfully. They couldn’t be making a point could they? As though weighing in on the debate the TARDIS sparked him. 

“Ow!” he moaned, sucking his thumb. “It’s not my fault humans sleep for so long!”

All the same, the following morning Jack and Rose woke up naturally for the first time in weeks and smirked at each other across the table at breakfast. Sometimes, when working with an impatient Time Lord, teamwork was needed.


End file.
